New Delhi: In a second rejig of the state governors in five days, six more were appointed on Saturday, dropping four -- Ram Naik of Uttar Pradesh, Keshrinath Tripathi of West Bengal, Kaptan Singh Solanki of Tripura and Padmanabha Acharya of Nagaland.
Former union minister Jagdeep Dhankar (68), a tall Jat leader from Rajasthan who defected from Congress to BJP in 2003 and a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, is the new governor of West Bengal in place of Tripathi, a former U.P. Speaker and minister.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel (77), a former Gujarat CM, has been transferred as governor of Uttar Pradesh, replacing 85-year old Ram Naik, a former union minister from Mumbai.
Her post is filled by transfer of Bihar Governor Lal Ji Tandon (84), a BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, while his post is filled with Phagu Chauhan (71), a BJP MLA from U.P. for many terms.
Former union minister Ramesh Bains(72) from Chhattisgarh, who was dropped by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has been made the Governor of Tripura in place of Solanki who hailed from Madhya Pradesh.
Those appointed to the gubernatorial posts also include deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) R N Ravi, a 1976 batch Kerela cadre IPS officer, as the new governor of Nagaland.
He is credited with the Nagaland peace accord in 2015 that Prime Minister Modi boasted but kept it under wraps till todate. He had become the Deputy NSA only last October.
In the first lot, the President had appointed the new governors of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.
